New build, can I transfer my Win8.1 OEM licence to a new install of Win11?

Scam · Saturday at 11:48

Hello all. Looking to upgrade my rather old build per this thread. I have a Win8.1 OEM disc and licence which is was upgraded to Win10 ages ago. Windows update tells me this;

Edition: Windows 10 Home. Activation: Windows is activated with a digital licence linked to your Microsoft account.

Unfortunately my cpu doesn't meet the requirements for Win11 so I cannot upgrade this machine, which I thought might be one route (It's a Intel i5-4690 CPU @ 3.50GHz). So, is there any path I can take here to transfer my Windows licence for my new build?

Also, I've not been in the hardware game for a while. What exactly is the process for installing Windows on new builds now? Download installer to USB and boot from that?

TIA.

Rab · Saturday at 12:22

download iso from windows. use rufus , which gives you options, like your cpu or have no tmp removed . then you can use win 11. handy tool, loads use it, just to get win 11.
rufus will install it on to a usb. all done

Scam · Saturday at 13:43

Rab said:
download iso from windows. use rufus , which gives you options, like your cpu or have no tmp removed . then you can use win 11. handy tool, loads use it, just to get win 11.
rufus will install it on to a usb. all done

I think the question more is about the licence. E.g. do I need to install Win10 on the new build first, then upgrade to 11? Will it let me install 10 if I haven't disabled the licence ( :confused:

) on my existing machine?

Or the other way; if I install Win11 from scratch will my licence work? :confused:

Tetras · Saturday at 15:23

Scam said:
Or the other way; if I install Win11 from scratch will my licence work?

From what I'm aware of, since the changes to activation that were made around September/October 2023, that is the most likely option to lose your activation because old keys will no longer activate fresh Windows 10/11 installs with 7/8.1 keys.

Microsoft did mention that they were looking into some of the circumstances that were losing previously valid licenses, so I don't know if any tweaks have been made since then to make this process less rigid (prior to Sep/Oct 2023 it was very forgiving).

In theory, if you have a Microsoft account and it doesn't activate, it shouldn't be that hard to transfer the license, but I've seen mixed reports about this (for some it worked with no problem, for others it failed and Microsoft refused to help).

"Microsoft is now blocking Windows 7 and Windows 8 keys from activating a copy of Windows 11. It’s been a loophole that has existed for years, allowing people to upgrade from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 or 11 free of charge.
Microsoft originally announced the changes to block Windows 7 and Windows 8 keys from Windows 11 late last month, but at the time, we saw that keys were still activating, and it wasn’t clear when the block would actually come into force. As of this week, Windows 7 keys are now fully blocked from clean installs of Windows 11, Microsoft confirms to The Verge."

Microsoft has closed the free Windows 11 loophole — Windows 7 keys no longer work

No more upgrades from Windows 7.

www.theverge.com

Scam said:
I have a Win8.1 OEM disc and licence which is was upgraded to Win10 ages ago. Windows update tells me this;

I believe Windows 10/11 activations follow the same path with the digital license registration, so if you can successfully get this install working with a new PC and maintain the activation, then the Windows 11 upgrade will not be a problem.

Scam said:
Also, I've not been in the hardware game for a while. What exactly is the process for installing Windows on new builds now? Download installer to USB and boot from that?

Yep, pretty much everyone uses the Microsoft tool to create a USB now, apart from using Rufus to streamline/remove requirements.

darael · Saturday at 23:11

I don't know if this way will work, but the way I'd try is by installing Windows 10 on your current machine, then upgrade 10 to 11 - hopefully the digital licence will carry across to 10, then 11. All being well, then try putting the SSD (?) drive with the Windows 11 install in your new build.

Or you could try upgrading your current build to 10 and installing your OS in the new build then install 11.

Scam · Sunday at 10:32

darael said:
I don't know if this way will work, but the way I'd try is by installing Windows 10 on your current machine, then upgrade 10 to 11 - hopefully the digital licence will carry across to 10, then 11. All being well, then try putting the SSD (?) drive with the Windows 11 install in your new build.

So I’m already updated to Win 10. But my current machine doesn’t meet the requirements for Win11.

I was wondering if I could grab the Win10 installer for the new build, install that. But I’m not sure what would happen with the licence. Ideally I’d like to keep both active for a period to copy over files etc. in an easy way. Can I run a fresh install of Win10 without a license (for a period)? :confused:

darael · Sunday at 10:40

Scam said:
So I’m already updated to Win 10. But my current machine doesn’t meet the requirements for Win11.

I was wondering if I could grab the Win10 installer for the new build, install that. But I’m not sure what would happen with the licence. Ideally I’d like to keep both active for a period to copy over files etc. in an easy way. Can I run a fresh install of Win10 without a license (for a period)?

In that case, try dropping your current OS drive into the new build and see if Windows remains activated. My guess is if it does, then try upgrading that machine to 11.

I'll be honest though, I don't like the sound of all these upgrades, especially when different hardware is involved. I'd prefer a clean 11 install, but I don't know how you'd transfer your current 10 licence to the new 11 machine.

Scam · Sunday at 12:41

darael said:
I'd prefer a clean 11 install, but I don't know how you'd transfer your current 10 licence to the new 11 machine.

Agreed- that’s what I’m trying to do! I’m not taking any driver over to the new build.

Maybe I should just looking into the slightly-dubious (?) key sellers as opposed to OEM or retail.

Tetras · Sunday at 15:14

Scam said:
Agreed- that’s what I’m trying to do! I’m not taking any driver over to the new build.

If you can get it activated with the license retained then you can freely do a fresh install afterwards, so it doesn't really matter in the short term.

Mr Badger · Sunday at 15:51

Scam said:
Agreed- that’s what I’m trying to do! I’m not taking any driver over to the new build.

Maybe I should just looking into the slightly-dubious (?) key sellers as opposed to OEM or retail.

I couldn't get Windows 11 to activate after doing a clean install over Windows 10. I think my copy of Windows 10 had been activated as an upgrade from Windows 8. Anyway, I got bored with trying to get help from Microsoft and so splashed out a couple of quid for a "new" key, which solved the issue and still seems to be working fine.